The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-12-13
MoUNA DISEASE.
4 Attacks Men in n Peculiar Man
= nor, and 10 frequently Fatal.

NOW THAT the naymarxet aSSaSS rs
have been hung and are buried. the
papers are talking about everything
that led up to the riots. The great thing
that caused the riots, and made all the
tl,ouble, was the mouth disease"
Talking was the cause. Men who have
made oratory study. who have been
educated as takers, are somewhat care
ful in what they say, but the man of
ignorance, who learns. late in life, that
he has . gift of CAB. is dangerous
man. As justice Of a supreme court
once said Of a lawyer who had talked
too much with his mouth, "He sets his
! mouth to talking and goes off and
leaves it talking and 1t is not respon-
lie for what it says" 1t is so to a
,reat extent with those cheap takers.
VThey go through life and do not know
that they can speak in public, but some
day they are called out for few re-
marks. and before they know Vt they
find that they can talk at mark. They
receive applause from an audience that
is taken by surprise to find that the
man can talk. and that spoils the talker
He Is astonlshed to find that he is
threatened with oratory. and from that
moment he is spoiled. He is, from
that moment, frequentcr of places
where talk is cheap, and is constantly
loaded. 1t does not make any differ
ence to him what subject he talks upon,
or how little he knows of the subject.
The less he knows, the more he talks.
He looks upon his flow Of words as a
gift, when it is curse to him. He is
more apt to talk upon the wrongs of
working men, because he has been a
working man, but since he has become
q 'jaw-smith, he does not like to
\ work. That was the trouble with
REielden. He was a teamster, but
Hund he could talk with his mouth.
and he would drive team all day. and
hunt for place to shoot his mouth off
at night. Those human phono-
graphs could not hire hall. so
they talked on the street. The
more they talked the uglier they
became. They actually come to believe
that they were oppressed by capitalists.
They were oppressed with wind, that
what allied them. They talked them
selves into jail, and into their graves.
The mouth disease is the worst disease
that can take hold of ignorant men, be-
cause they get on the wrong side of
every question. They have TO "argue,"
and SO they oppose everything. They
are like the Irishman who was ship.
wrecked on an Island. and to the first
native he met he said, II dunno If yez
have government here but If yez have
one, I'm agin' it," The guarantee of
free speech" in the constitution is the
great and only idea such men have.
There may be other things in the con-
stitution. but free speech is all they
know about This mouth disease at
tacks men in a peculiar manner.
knew shoemaker once in an interior
city, who caught the disease. For years
he worked at his shoe bench. and sang.
and kept time with his hammer, and
was perfectly happy. the jolliest man l
knew. He always had a smile for all,
his work was done when promised,
and he had no care on his mind. One
day. at ward caucus. he addressed the |
chairman. to suggest that a certain
man, who was present was entitled to
vote. and before he knew It his mouth
got TO talking, and for fifteen mitutes
he talked. He finally sat down, pale
with excitement, and amazed that he
could talk. Before the caucus was over
the shoemaker had spoken six times,
on different subjects, and he was a
ruined man. He got the big head at
that caucus, and he went home n
changed man. He frowned at his wife,
who wanted to put poultice on his
hoarseness. From that day he was
never the same shoemaker. He was a
attendant at every meeting
where there was chance to talk, and
he became morose, and cranky.
He had the whole city, coun-
ty state and national government
to straighten out. He quarreled
at school meetings OH every conceiv-
able question. At city and county con-
ventions he was delegate, and he
talked everybody blind, on every ques-
ton. He became an alderman. and at